Saturday, 26 March 2005
Today the RA Anti-Corruption Council has held a meeting presided at by RA Prime Minister A. Margaryan, head of the Council. Discussed were issues bearing on the progress made in the implementation of the Armenian government's anti-corruption strategy and program of action., the status of cooperation with international organizations and the fulfilment of the international commitments assumed by Armenia. The meeting also discussed other issues of topical interest.
Concerning the implementation of the 2004-2007 strategic program for the fight against corruption, adviser to RA President and chairman of the commission for the monitoring of the ACSP Mr. Bagrat Yesayan reported that 10 working groups had already been formed within the commission involving 128 non-governmental organizations. 62 out of the total of 98 actions envisaged for the period 2004-2007 were reported to have been completed with the balance of 32 being in process. 17 of 18 items on the 2004 agenda had been carried out with success. The outstanding action consisting in the preparation of a draft government decision on approval of the guidelines on post-graduate studies in Armenia would be carried out in 2005 following adoption of the RA law on higher and post-graduate education. According to the speaker, 32 out of the 48 measures foreseen for 2004-2005 had been implemented with 16 of them still being in progress. 4 actions had been completed to the account of the 2004-2006 program with 12 in progress. Likewise, in progress are 3 measures envisaged for the period 2004-2007. 4 actions of educational and advocacy character are implemented on a regular basis. The speaker mentioned that number of decisions and laws had been passed by the government and the National Assembly respectively with the view of detecting and curbing the incidences of shadow economy, mechanisms had been worked out in protection of the rights of tax-payers, improvements were made to the customs-related legislation, guidelines were enacted to streamline the licencing of higher educational institutions and improvements operated in the procedure established for admission to graduate studies. A number of regulations were out dealing with environmental protection and rehabilitation matters, as well as
